


Seven-Ten Split

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: The Hamilton Family Album [16]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bonding, College, F/M, Fluff, Fun, Gen, bowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 16:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: There are very few ways to have a good time with your friends then a few good rounds of bowling.





	Seven-Ten Split

“This cannot be sanitary,” Angelica huffed, holding the rented bowling shoes gingerly between two fingers, “How many feet have been in these shoes? And how many times have they been cleaned?”

She shuddered. 

“You’re overreacting,” Eliza shook her head as she laced up the garish blue and red monstrosities on her feet.

 

“If I get athlete’s foot, I’m blaming you,” Angelica snarked, “What lane are we in?”

“I think Alex said twelve,” Eliza responded, “It’s apparently their usual lane.”

“How often do you have to come to a bowling alley to have a usual lane?” Peggy asked. She had just joined her sister at Columbia and this was her first outing with everyone. 

 

“Often enough,” Eliza replied, “it’s fun.”

“Yeah, fun...” Angelica rolled her eyes.

Once Peggy had gotten her shoes, after a small amount of arguing with the guy behind the counter when he didn’t believe that she needed kids shoes, they headed towards the lane.

Alex was already seated at the scoring computer setting everything up.

“There are too many of us,” Alex was saying, “there are only four player slots and seven of us.”

“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Herc told him, “I’ll be with Angie, you can be with Eliza, and Peggy can be with John.”

“I don’t get a partner?” pouted Lafayette. 

“You’re stupidly good at this,” John pointed out, “you don’t need a partner.”

“That’s still unfair,” Lafayette huffed.

“Poor you,” laughed John. 

“What is it that the French say?” Herc asked. 

“C’est la vie,” put in Alex with a grin. 

Lafayette groaned, but there was a small smile quirking at his lips, “No fair using my own language against me.”

 

Alex chuckled lightly and continued typing away at the scoring computer.

“Just pick a ball!” Peggy called at Angelica who was scanning the rack intently, “We’re about to start the game.”

 

“I have to make sure I get the right ball,” Angelica called back. 

“Generally when people say that, they mean the weight not the color,” Eliza laughed. 

“It’s a known fact that sparkly bowling balls work better,” Angelica informed her sister primly, finally returning to their lane with a glittery purple ball, “Just wait.”

 

“Nothing can save your bowling game,” Eliza rolled her eyes.

“I’m wounded,” Angelica deadpanned. 

Then Herc, who had disappeared at some point, retuned with his hands laden. 

“I come bearing snacks!” he announced, “Two jumbo plates of nachos, one with everything and one without jalapeños. There’s a pizza on the way and a couple pitchers of beer.”

“I’m underage,” Peggy pointed out. 

“Oh shit I forgot,” Herc said, “You want a coke or something?”

“I can get it,” Peggy tried. 

Herc held up a hand with a grin, “On me, no worries.”

"Thanks!" Peggy grinned.

Alex then grabbed for a ball as he was the first to bowl.

"Go Alex!" Eliza cheered from her seat while reaching for a handful of nachos.

 

Alex looked over his shoulder and grinned at her with a wink before turning back to the lane and rolling the ball. It seemed to be going well until the very end when the ball veered off and only clipped two pins. Despite that, Alex turned back to everyone with his arms raised triumphantly. 

Alex huffed and waited for his ball to be returned to him so he could bowl his second frame.

They soon settled into the rhythm of the game, although they weren’t particularly in a rush so sometimes it took quite a bit of time in between each turn. Alex and Eliza stuck with each bowling their entire two frames every turn, but Herc and Angelica settled into a different pattern. She would start the turn, and usually knock down one pin at most, and Herc would try his best to get them some actual points. 

"Maybe we should get some bumpers for the next round," Peggy suggested.

They were taking a break between games to finish off their pizza, all of them squished together on the benches at their lane. 

 

"I do not need bumpers," Angelica glared at her younger sister while reaching for her pizza.

"Considering that without counting Herc's frames your score would be...." Peggy quickly did the math from what was on the screen, "seven? I think you do."

“We don’t have that problem,” Alex said proudly, growing his arm around Eliza’s shoulders and pulling her close, “Betsy is a natural!”

Eliza giggled. 

“Peggy isn’t too bad either,” John added.

“Hey maybe it’s genetic!” Peggy grinned looking towards Eliza.

(Okay I’ve decided to change who makes the genes comment so that we can include teasing John ha)

“That’s not how genetics work, Peggy,” John told her. 

“And he should know,” Alex grinned. 

“His boyfriend’s in medical school,” Lafayette added. 

“Ooooo,” Herc and Alex chorused in a sing-song tone. 

John flushed, “Shut up.”

“John!” Eliza said excitedly, “I didn’t know you were seeing someone.”

“Don’t listen to them,” John told her, “he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just in the same creative writing club as me, that’s all.”

“Uh huh,” Herc said, “the medical student is spending his minimal free time in a writing club without any ulterior motive.”

Beside him, Alex and Lafayette were making kissing noises.

“Will you two knock it off,” John elbowed Lafayette who had the misfortune of being right beside him.

 

“Chill, Laurens,” Alex laughed, “our teasing comes from a place of love.”

 

“Sure it does,” John snorted.

 

It was easy to see that John wasn’t taking their ribbing too seriously, though, by the way he was trying to hide a smile.

 

“We gonna get back to the game?” Peggy prodded.

“Hell yeah!” Herc cheered, “We’re gonna win this time.” 

“Fat chance,” Alex shot back, “Me and Eliza will destroy you all. Again.”

“The only way you two have a chance of winning is if you don’t let Angelica bowl at all,” Peggy scoffed.

“Well, I guess it was inevitable that we’d finally find something that you’re better than me at,” smirked Angelica.

“I guess we just never thought you could fail so hard,” Eliza giggled.

(Well, we could do: college time, Alex and Eliza pre-kids, or the kids. Then if they choose kids we can do a second one to see which kid)

With that, they started their next game. As it turned out, one and a half games of bowling was plenty for one evening because they all started losing steam around that time. 

“Winning is hard,” Eliza collapsed in the molded plastic chair, reaching for a nearby pizza box.

“But definitely satisfying,” added Alex, flopping down next to her, “How are you eating more pizza right now?”

 

Eliza swallowed her bite of pizza, “I’m hungry?”

“I’d kill for your metabolism,” Herc sighed, “you don’t want to know how many hours I spend in the gym to stave off early-onset beer belly.”

Eliza simply shrugged taking another bite out of her slice of pizza, "I'm lucky I guess."

They slowly finished the last frames, often doing more chatting that actually playing. At one point, John and Peggy disappeared to the small arcade in the back of the bowling alley so Angelica played their frames. It was hard to tell if she was really that bad or if she was rolling them gutter balls on purpose. 

"Alright you two break it up," Angelica walked over to Alex and Eliza, who'd started snuggling.

“You’re just jealous,” Eliza told her, laying her head on Alex’s shoulder. 

“Whatever,” Angelica rolled her eyes.

“I think it’s sweet,” Lafayette announced. 

"It's been over a year," Angelica turned to Lafayette, "they shouldn't be this disgustingly cute anymore."

“He’s the wrong person to complain to about that,” Herc told her, “considering that he’s such a romantic and has been dating the same person for basically his whole life.”

“Ah yes,” Angelica sighed, “Adrienne.”

Even at the mention of her name Lafayette began to grin like a fool.

“Just you wait, you’ll fall in love too one day, my dear Hercules,” Lafayette sighed. 

Hercules made a gagging motion and Angelica let out a snort of laughter. 

 

When they finally finished the second game, Peggy and John were still nowhere to be seen. 

“We’d better go make sure Peg doesn’t spend all of her money on Pac-Man,” Eliza said. 

They made their way to the arcade tucked back by the bar. There they found John leaning against the glass of the claw machine while Peggy gripped the joystick so hard her knuckles turned white.

“One more try,” she was saying, her focus completely concentrated on the claw, “This is the last one.”

“You said that seven tries ago,” John told her mildly. 

“What kind of financial hole has my sister dug herself into?” Angelica asked.

“Almost two rolls of quarters,” John snorted.

“That ugly-ass alpaca llama thing with the rainbow poncho is worth at least twice as much,” Peggy insisted, then smacked the side of the machine in frustration when the aforementioned stuffed animal slipped out of the claw’s grasp right before it reached the drop chute. 

 

“Come on!” Peggy glowered.

“Can I try?” Alex stepped up.

“Be my guest,” she huffed in response, crossing her arms sullenly. 

Alex stepped up to the claw machine and donated one of his own quarters to the cause. Then, tongue between his teeth in concentration, he set about to the task as the rest of them watched on. 

With fluid motions he angled the claw ever so slightly to the side of llama.

Peggy raised her brow, “What are you doing? That’s never gonna work.”

“Ye of little faith,” Alex tutted adjusting the claw again.

After a few more barely-there movements, Alex confidently pressed the button. 

They stood in silence watching the claw descend into the pile of plushies. At first it seemed like he had missed completely but as it slowly began to rise it became apparent that the claw was closed over one of the llama’s stubby legs. 

“No,” Peggy said in hushed tone, “you did not...”

The llama was neatly deposited into the front chute. Alex grabbed the llama and presented it to Peggy. She looked down at the llama, which really was quite ugly, with sheer joy shining in her eyes. 

“I don’t know,” she said, “whether to love you for getting me this or hate you for doing in two seconds what I’ve been trying to do for almost an hour.”

Alex simply shrugged his shoulders, “It’s a talent.”

“A very exploitable talent,” Angelica said, “Do you think you can hustle claw machines?”

“I only use my powers for good,” Alex told her.

“No fun,” Angelica huffed.

The group disbanded pretty soon after that, with Lafayette, John, and Herc heading to the off-campus apartment they and Alex shared, while Alex has decided to be gallant and escort the ladies home first. Technically, Peggy and Eliza had their dorm rooms, but neither of them had classes until later the next day, so they’d decided to spend the night at Angelica’s off-campus apartment.

 

“Ladies this is where I bid you goodnight,” Alex spoke as they stood on the stoop.

“We had a great time,” Eliza answered for all of them. 

“Yeah, I appreciate the welcome,” added Peggy.

“And the llama?” Alex asked.

“That too.”

“Come on, Pegs,” Angelica said, “let’s give the two lovebirds a minute alone. We’ll be upstairs, Liza.”

“Alright,” Eliza nodded as the door shut leaving her and Alex alone.

“Peace at last,” Alex laughed.

“It really was nice, though,” Eliza told him, “having everyone together. I know she doesn’t show it, but Peggy was really worried about finding friends here, so thanks for that.”

Alex shrugged, “Of course. We already had two Schuylers, why not complete the set.”

Eliza laughed, “Are we collectibles now?”

“Exactly,” Alex grinned, “but I’ll tell you what, I’ve already got the best one, so I’m not too bothered with the rest.”

Eliza giggled before leaning in the kiss him on the cheek, “I’m glad.”

**Author's Note:**

> We want to give shout out to a few of our readers who have been incredibly supportive! Thank you spunkywashington/turning-in-my-grave! 
> 
> Also the third anniversary of HFA is coming up soon, if you would like to vote on what or celebratory fic is going to be about you can do that here: https://linkto.run/p/TQQD4V78


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